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Community activist Mike McGinn rode a wave of grassroots organizing energy to victory in Seattle's Mayoral race this month. The new mayor-elect's vision for affordable city-wide fiber broadband was not only a core concern for his campaign, but one of his clearest disagreements with challenger Joe Mallahan. Now that the campaign is won, what's the road ahead for McGinn's vision?

Nov. 30 will mark ten years since the World Trade Organization met in Seattle, amidst the epoch-making street protests that shut it down and focused the eyes of the world on the massive injustice of corporate globalization and "free trade" policies. Ten years later, the WTO is still at it; on the 30th itself the organization is hosting a "restart" meeting in Geneva--one week before the UN launches a climate change conference in Copenhagen. These are uncertain times and much remains at stake.

Help commemorate Seattle+10 at the People's Summit, dedicated to re-engaging in grassroots organizing for economic justice, human rights, peace, and environmental sustainability. Help reclaim and amplify our voices with a shared vision for a healthy planet and people. Let’s harness the spirit of the 1999 WTO protests in Seattle with a renewed commitment to move global justice forward!

Events start Friday, Nov 27 with Amy Goodman (a benefit for KBCS co-presented by Reclaim the Media), followed by two days of plenaries, workshops and a cross-sector strategy session, held at Seattle University, New Hope Baptist Church and Town Hall. Visit www.seattleplus10.org for a full list of speakers, plenaries, and workshops!

Controversial CNN host Lou Dobbs is quitting the network, he announced today. Dobbs and CNN had come under increasing criticism from media activists across the country offended by Dobbs' record of deceptive, anti-immigrant broadcasts. Organizers of the Basta Dobbs campaign–-a national Latino-led coalition quickly claimed victory. "Our contention all along was that Lou Dobbs – who has a long record of spreading lies and conspiracy theories about immigrants and Latinos – does not belong on the ‘Most Trusted Name in News,’" said Presente.org's Roberto Lovato.

In Seattle, Casa Latina, Reclaim the Media, and the National Organization for Women (Seattle Chapter) have joined BastaDobbs' national call for CNN to stop broadcasting Dobbs' daily attacks on immigrants (Dobbs, meanwhile, is rumored to be considering a move to Fox. If CNN is sincere in their desire to woo Latino viewers, they should enthusiastically hand him his hat.)

Civil rights are fundamentally about protecting fairness, equality, and freedom for all people. Net neutrality is about protecting fairness, equality and freedom for all online data. From a values perspective, these two concepts are functionally equivalent.

More than 50,000 of us have joined Basta Dobbs' call for CNN to dump Lou Dobbs! Now it's time to take the next step.

Next week, CNN will launch its new series Latino in America, telling the stories of Latinos across the country. There's just one thing missing: Lou Dobbs. That's right. Four hours about the Latino experience in America, and not a word about the man who spends every weeknight telling lies about immigrants and spreading fear and hatred toward Latinos. Together with award-winning filmmaker Arturo Perez, Basta Dobbs is calling out CNN's hypocrisy with this powerful new video: CNN: Lou Dobbs or Latinos in America? Help grow the campaign by watching the video and sharing it far and wide!

Oct 15 UPDATE: The House Energy and Commerce Committee approved the Local Community Radio Act on a voice vote; the bill is headed to the House floor. On Oct. 7, the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet has voted 15-1 to approve the bipartisan Local Community Radio Act. Now the bill heads to a full committee vote. The long-awaited bill (see our op-ed from last fall) would finally allow the nationwide expansion of noncommercial, community-based Low Power FM (LPFM) stations, run by community groups, schools and religious organizations. Read more for Prometheus Radio Project/RTM statement.

A total of 80 companies are now distancing themselves from Fox's media hate. ColorOfChange.org has confirmed that 19 new companies whose ads aired recently during Fox News Channel’s Glenn Beck program have asked Fox to stop their ads from running or pledged to not to run ads on the show going forward. The latest additions include Equifax, Hoffman La Roche, Schiff Nutrition, Subaru, and Toyota-Lexus. This after Beck called President Obama a “racist” who “has a deep-seated hatred for white people” during an appearance on Fox & Friends.

The news comes on the heels of stories that broke throughout British newspapers on Monday, reporting that advertisers seen during Beck’s program in England are feeling the heat as well. Diageo, maker of Guinness and Tanqueray, cut their advertising ties with Beck, as did Waitrose, a supermarket chain which is not only taking a stance against Glenn Beck, but also against Fox News Channel as a whole.

Over at PubliCola, tech writer Glenn Fleishman is on a roll. An interview with Seattle's Chief Information Officer Bill Schrier elaborates the economic case for why Seattle needs a robust fiber broadband network. In a followup article, Fleishman critiques the very real digital discrimination that persists between the Central District/Beacon Hill cable franchise area and the rest of the city. Improving affordable digital access in these neighborhoods has been a central concern of Reclaim the Media's Seattle Digital Justice Campaign.

It is the purpose of the First Amendment to preserve an uninhibited marketplace of ideas in which truth will ultimately prevail, rather than to countenance monopolization of that market, whether it be by the Government itself or a private licensee.

Red Lion Broadcasting v. FCC, 1969

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